Bangladesh government backs anti-Zia splinter group

By IANS

Dhaka : The rift in the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) appears complete with one faction taking over the outfit’s central office under police protection, while the Election Commission justified the move and rejected protests from party chief and jailed former prime minister Khaleda Zia.


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Analysts said this marked a split in the BNP, founded by former president Ziaur Rahman in the 1970s. Since he was killed in a military putsch in 1981, Khaleda had been its undisputed leader and had become the country’s prime minister for two terms (1991-96 and 2001-06).

On Wednesday, BNP founder leader and former finance minister in Khaleda Zia’s cabinet, M. Saifur Rahman, arrived at the party office at the head of a large posse of supporters and opened the locks of the party office under police protection. The office had been kept locked by the government following a dispute between rival factions of the party.

The government-backed action was an organised affair. Most activists flocking to the office before noon came from outside Dhaka. Many of them carried travel bags and spoke in a southern dialect. They wore red bands as a mark of identification, New Age newspaper noted.

Dissent in the BNP had been simmering for long and Zia herself pressed the point by sacking long time secretary general Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan, minutes before she was taken to jail on charges of corruption on Sep 3.

Rahman has since emerged leader of the faction that Bhuiyan led, while retired Major Hafizuddin is its acting secretary general.

The Election Commission had on Nov 5 invited Hafizuddin for talks on electoral reforms scheduled on Nov 22.

Khaleda Zia has questioned the invitation by the poll body to the faction led by Rahman.

“We have said in the reply that there is no scope for the withdrawal or cancellation of the invitation letter sent to the acting BNP secretary general Hafizuddin Ahmed,” Chief Election Commissioner A.T.M. Huda told reporters after sending a reply to Khaleda’s legal notice.

The faction led by Khandaker Delwar Hossain, whom Zia had appointed, denounced the “forced occupation” of the party headquarters by “conspirators blessed by certain quarters”.

His supporters, kept away from the party office by the police, shouted slogans, calling the rivals traitors, media reports said.

Political activity has been banned under a national emergency and activists can meet only indoors since January. Parties have accused the government of fomenting dissensions in their ranks.

While BNP has faced internal problems since the advent of the present caretaker government in January, the rival Awami League, despite the detention of its chief, Sheikh Hasina, has managed to close ranks and stay intact.

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